Within the nuclear industry, an area of interest is in the use of remote sensing devices such as robotics and aerial drones to conduct surveillances and inspection where radiation fields are present. These radiation fields may be intense, where humans cannot safely enter and/or work for extended periods. In cases where the radiation fields are not as intense, use of robotics or aerial drones can reduce human exposures, helping meet as-low-as-reasonably-achievable objectives. Extended radiation exposure of sensitive electronics such as those using semiconductor materials can cause these devices to malfunction or stop working more frequently than those not exposed. Radiation can ionize and disrupt a semiconductor's crystal structure, introducing a variety of failure modes for electronic devices. Depending on the energy and type, radiation can cause many difficulties for sensitive electronics, including but not limit to physical damage. For example, in metal-oxide-semiconductor devices, gamma and X-ray radiation will strip electrons off atoms in an insulator to create electron-hole pairs, resulting in trapped positive changes that can shift device operating characteristics. Increasing the robustness of electronics to survive in radiation environments has involved processing techniques commonly referred to as radiation hardening. Presently, manufacturing techniques applied to increase the resistance to radiation effects involve constructing electronics with fewer defects, and semiconductor doping.
Traditional electronics radiation hardening typically entails enclosing the entire electronic circuit board or area with a dense material (e.g., lead or tungsten), adding significant weight to the system. Also, this method takes a brute-force approach by shielding all the electronics, including components not sensitive to radiation. Thus, traditional electronics radiation shielding is rarely spaced optimized and can add significant weight and complexity to the system it is shielding. Both weight and size are relatively important feature considerations on any subsystem to be added to a robotics platform, especially aerial drones.
Accordingly, a need remains to provide for improved radiation resistance which improves upon current methods and which can avoid traditional radiation hardening procedures that may be utilized in remote sensing devices exposed to radiation environments such as decommissioning equipment, surveillance robots and unmanned systems (crawlers, drones and submersibles).